FARMINGTON – School board members for SAD 9 voted down a policy change proposal that would limit soda choices in school vending machines, sending the issue back to committee.
Defending the proposal, Joyce Morton of Farmington explained that people who use the building, not just students, should have choices, and that the machines are not operational during the school day. The committee’s proposal allowed for one regular soda and one diet soda in vending machines, with everything else being “a healthy choice,” she said.
But several board members spoke in opposition of the policy change.
“I’m discouraged that we can’t provide a role model for healthy living,” Jo Josephson of Temple said before voting against it.
“I think it’s time to make the break,” Robert Flick of Farmington agreed.
Referring to an editorial in a recent edition of the Franklin Journal written by local pediatrician Dr. Kathleen Hickey, Leah Binder, vice president of the Franklin County Health Network, told the board that there has been a 100 percent increase in the rate of obesity among children in Maine in the last 20 years.
The thought keeps the doctor up at night, she said. Eliciting a few giggles, she urged the board to vote against the proposal so Dr. Hickey “can sleep at night.”
“It’s a health crisis for our kids,” she said. “We can do better than that.”
But Morton countered, saying obesity in children starts with eating habits at home. She referred also to the reduction in time children are required to attend physical education class in schools.
The board voted 8-4 to send the policy back to the committee.
Comments are no longer available on this story